coaster1000

Great trip report of two really good parks. I like Kärnan a lot to, that first drop in the tower is amazing. In the backseat it feels a bit like Expedition GeForce's first drop, but in the dark! The rest of the ride is really good too, but not great, in my opinion. I thought it had a pretty significant rattle in the outer seats for such a new ride. What did you think? Oh... And I Nessie! I totally agree about Colossos being by far the best coaster at Heide-Park. It's such a fun ride. I might be alone here, but I actually preferred Heide-Park before they started 'theming' the different areas. In my opinion it comes off as quite cheaply done (especially in the back of the park) and not very harmonic. Yes, it was 'generic' before, but beautifully landscaped. Anyway, who cares, they have a great coaster collection, and Flug der Dämomen is a real winner as well!

Really great photos! I enjoyed your TR. How did you find Fury? I've heard pretty much only rave reviews about it, but for some reason, I just can't get excited about the layout. Those of you who have been on it: What makes the ride so good?

Europa Park. I've been to both PortAventura and Europa Park, and I my opinion, EP blows PA totally out of the water. Many enthusiasts consider EP to be one of the best theme parks in the world. You will not be dissappointed.

Great trip report! I loved your in-depth review of Helix. I haven't been to Liseberg yet, which is bad since I'm not THAT far away. I'll definitely go next year to check it out, the park looks great, and that collection of coasters is hard to beat (in Scandinavia at least).

This makes me very happy I moved to Germany. I can't wait to ride this next year! It is absolutely stunning.

Just doing coasters here... B&M - Inverted, with flying coming in a close second. Intamin - Giga, but pretty much everything they make Premier - Sky Rocket II/Triple Launch Coaster (Tempesto, Sky Scream, etc.) Arrow - 4th dimension roller coaster Vekoma - Mine Train (this says a lot about the quality of their bigger installations...) Mack - Launched Coaster Schwarzkopf - Classic Looping Coaster Gerstlauer - Infinity Coaster Giovanola - Hyper Coaster I need to ride more major coasters by Zamperla, Zierer, Morgan, TOGO and Maurer-Söhne to judge them fairly. GCI, GG, Dinn, RMC etc. are pretty self-explanatory...

This is amazing! Can't wait to see more.

For me, it was definitely PortAventura. I really, really wanted to like this park – on the surface, it has beautiful and consistent theming and a solid coaster collection (especially now that Shambhala has been added, I went before that, though). But I had a terrible day there. I was absolutely shocked at how they run that place! One train operations on Dragon Khan with a 90+ minute queue, Stampida+Tomahawk closed, drop tower closed, Templo du Fuego closed, Khan closed more than half of the day too, most of park rides didn't open until 2 hours after the official opening, chewing gum and trash everywhere, rude and slow employees and ridiculous prices. For a park that strives to be a 'destination' place like Disney, Universal, Europa-Park etc., it was just WAY below that level. I went home very disappointed, but tried to convince myself it had still somehow just been an 'off day'. However, after reading similar reviews I decided that I wasn't just a bad day, but in general a pretty bad park – and so, yes, one 'bad visit' certainly impacted my view of a park. Now that they have Shambhala I would probably go again, but only if I would be randomly nearby.

Yeah, it's great man! I thought about this too, and it seemed like they trust people's common sense just a bit more compared to many other parks, and I think that's great. For instance, they allowed bags on Euro-Mir and Euro-Sat which significantly speeds up the loading process, they don't 'staple' people on any of the coasters, they don't have ridiculous loose-article policies about glasses, etc., and they don't physically check every single restraint on the small coasters -- for example Matterhorn Blitz and Alpenexpress -- because they actually trust that people have common sense, and because... Well, they're SMALL COASTERS. They basically eliminated every redundant, 'lawyer-pleasing' part of operations.

Those VR glasses on Alpenexpress look like a lot of fun! I just returned from a three-day trip with my girlfriend to Europa Park. We stayed at the hotel Santa Isabel. First time at the park for us both. I expected a LOT from Europa Park after reading the reviews online. What can I say...? It totally exceeded those expectations. As soon as we got into the hotel my jaw dropped due to the amazing detail and theming. Simply beautiful. And the same can be said about the park. The whole park is simply gorgeous. The rides are great – I especially loved Blue Fire (a top 10 coaster for me), Euro-Mir (without a doubt the most 'avant-garde'/original coaster I've been on – that tune will stay in my head for weeks!), and Arthur, which is is probably the single best dark ride I've ever been on, nothing in, for instance, DLP can compare to it in my opinion. Oh, and the operations are INSANE. Look closely at that picture of Euro-Mir. Note the placement of those two 16-passenger trains. They're like 15 seconds apart. And the food is amazing. Ok, ok... I'll stop now. The only bad part is that I'll be now spoiled forever. Why can't every park be like this? I can't wait to return.

Flug der Dämomen is very smooth (especially in the front), and certainly gives you a feeling of flying. It's just a 'fun' ride and certainly not too intense, in my opinion – and I think most here would agree! The same goes for Krake. There is of course the psychological aspect of the lift hill and holding brake before the first drop, but the ride is butter smooth and very short, so it should be a great 'first' coaster as well. I really, really wouldn't worry about it! Desert Race is the most intense of the three, in my opinion, but it never goes over 19 m., so that's maybe a point for you to consider if you don't like heights. The launch is quite intense, but so short you probably won't have time to fear anything. Seriously, it sounds like you're interested in coasters and want to ride them. So just do it. Your 'fears' aren't unnormal, see them as part of the fun! I suspect all that you need is one ride on a good coaster, and you'll be good to go for the rest. I'm actually fairly sure. (Also, when you're there and have done your first rides, don't miss out on a backseat ride on Colossos, that is by far the best ride in the park in my opinion!!!)

1) Millennium Force 2) X2 3) Expedition GeForce 4) Maverick 5) Piraten 6) Colossos 7) Tatsu 8) Magnum XL-200 9) Schwur des Kärnan 10) Dragon Khan Wow... I need to ride more wooden coasters...

Kärnan, Hansa-Park, first drop in the last row. Millennium Force, Cedar Point, first drop. Every second of X2. Furious Baco, PortAventura, launch, outer front row. Goliath, SFMM, helix. Non-coaster: Vertigo, Tivoli.

Hey everybody! I haven't really posted here for a long time (but alwayssss lurking ) so sorry if I do anything wrong in this review!... Anyway, I was in the park today for the opening of "Kärnan", and WOW! It is a *very* intense coaster. The ride opened at noon today and had a steady 1 1/2-2 hour line till the park closed (with all other rides being under 20 minutes) — people were cheering and clapping after nearly each ride, and everyone seemed to absolutely love it. As of now, the queue area theming and on-ride theming is non-existent, but as you all probably know, it will be added next season. A few main points about the ride, just in my opinion, though! (SPOILERS!): The first thing I noticed is how great the trains are. The restraints are super comfortable and you have lots of leg room and freedom of movement. The park had been great at keeping the lift hill backwards vertical drop a secret. I still wasn't completely sure what was going to happen when the ride stopped on the lift hill! It seems to stop about 2/3rds of the way up and drop maybe just 1/3rd of the entire length of the tower, but it is still a nice gimmick. The drop itself is very comfortable and the braking smooth. It is more or less completely dark in the tower (as of now). First drop = INSANE. On my first ride, I was in the last row, and you get some very, very strong ejector air during the drop. It literally yanks you into the vertical dive and twist with sustained airtime, and the sense of speed is greatly enchanced due to the 'tunnel'. The first drop seems to me quite perfect and was my favorite part of the ride. The next element (the butterfly dingy – anyone knows what it is called?) is extremely good as well and offers what I would call 'strong floater' to 'mild ejector' airtime. The combination of airtime and 'twistyness' is just great. The rest of the ride is mostly about speed, but with three or four quite strong airtime moments thrown in the mix. It just seems to never let up and is full of surprises, although mostly in the first half. A great surprise was, for instance, the transition after the first overbanked turn which offfered a strong boost of ejector airtime. The second half of the ride I found less inspired, but still nice. The indoor inline roll after the brake run was a nice surprise as well. Good hangtime. The strongest negative point about the ride is its roughness. I had only two rides during the day (it was my first time in the park so I wanted to ride everything), once in the very back, outer left seat and once in the second-to-last row, inner left seat. Especially in the second half of the coaster there were a few problems. It seemed to be random, but strong jerking rather than a constant rattle, and it was especially noticeable in the outer seat. It was tolerable, but still borderline painful, and would make something like a marathon session quite a... marathon The second thing is capacity: the ride is very, very long and the trains seat only 16. This obviously makes the line a bit slow, but the park isn't huge yet, so it's not a big problem. Generally speaking, I think this coaster will land in my top 10. All in all, it is a very intense, very original ride. The roughness is the only negative factor and definitely a nuisance, but it is pretty much made up for by the extreme first drop and the airtime thoughout. Go ride it! Below a few pictures I snapped one my iPhone. Thanks for reading!

Being Cedar Fair, it could be a clone of Gatekeeper, just raised a hundred feet or so to set the record. Just like in RCT. That'd be looking hilarious.

Went today... More work has been done! This was taken earlier in the day. Notice how fast they are at building this thing!

The scariest ride I've been on is the SCAD Tower @ Tivoli Friheden in Denmark... Roller coasters never scare me, but I was seriously terrified on my way up the SCAD tower. The experience itself was great fun and actually quite pleasant - I would've done it again if it hadn't been an upcharge. I can recommend it to anyone.

Piraten @ Djurs Sommerland. My no. 4 coaster!

There's not a single ride with shoulder restraints, so that's good. But I would advice you to keep your hands inside the ride vehicle, as clearance envelopes at Europa-Park aren't that big, especially on Euro-MIR you can easily touch the nets in the tunnels. edit: Europa-Park's website only mentions a maximum height (of 1,95m) for one ride... Euro-MIR: http://www.europapark.com/lang-de/Infos-und-Service/Sicherheit/c479.html?langchange=true Awesome! I look forward to going... With the new wooden coaster opening this year, I think it is fair to say that EP has one of the finest and most exclusive roller coaster collections in the world!

I'm thinking about going this spring. The place looks awesome. I just have one question: Which rides have maximum height requirements? I'm going with a friend who is very tall (202 cm), and I was wondering if there were restrictions on any of the rides. I checked the website, which doesn't specify any, but it says some rides may have it. Does anyone know? Thanks in advance.

In terms of forces, Batman: The Ride (SFMM) gets my vote. The ride was pretty much one long greyout to me - it was fun though, if a little rough. Mantis is pretty intense without trims but not in a good way! My feet hurt after my ride. I also found Dragon Khan to be pretty disorienting from what I can remember from my single ride (maybe the 2 1/2 wait did that...) The best? Raptor.

Oh no! The park may not be special but it sure meant a lot to me. I usually don't get emotional about parks/rides closing (come on guys, it's JUST A ROLLER COASTER) and I can totally see why they close this place. Even still, this is the first park I can recall visiting and it had my first "real" coaster, the Painfairy looper of death. So... Slightly bummed.

It wasn't open when I was there. The etrance was sort of blocked off. There was no sign with its name at the ticket booth. (At least not from a distance)

Thanks guys. ^ Yep. You can also just enter through the Flash Pass entrance. When you get close to the ride there is a flight of stairs. Saves you some walking! And I did ride the side that faced the park (when the train was in the station.) X2 was amazing.

Wow... Looks like a lot of TPR people went on Sunday. I did too, and I had a great time. I was at the park from opening to 5 PM. I rode nothing but coasters but got on every of them except Superman (obviously), Deja Vu and the kiddie ones... General observations: The park wasn't very crowded at all, especially before 2 PM. X2 had a consistent 1 hour wait, all the other coasters were 10 minutes or less in the morning and 30 minutes or less after lunch. The staff was better than what I had heard, the operations weren't fantastic, though. The stacked trains on Tatsu, X2 (barely), Gold Rusher. And these coaster didn't even run 3 trains. The front of the park looked really nice; Colossus County Fair... not so much. But it wasn't that bad. The park was pretty clean, too. I left before Fright Fest started. But the theming was pretty bad to be honest. I didn't even notice that X2 was Halloween-themed. Thought it was just the normal stuff. Now for the coasters. The first number is how many times I rode it, the second is the rating from 1 - 10. Tatsu: #2, 8/10 This was my first flying coaster and a very enjoyable experience. I went straight to this ride when the park opened (used the Revolution shortcut) and I had 2 consecutive rides with no line. The first drop was great and the feeling of speed was pretty nice. The corkscrew-esque inversions didn't do much but the pretzel loop was super forceful if a little rough. After the pretzel loop, the ride sort of loses its pace which is a shame as it makes it end in a pretty dull way. Overall, though, Tatsu is another great and very unique B&M with great landscape interaction. Ninja: #1, 7/10 A decent suspended roller coaster. Faster than Cedar Point's Iron Dragon but shorter and a bit rougher. The turn over Jet Stream was particularly enjoyable and quite forceful with it nearly 70 degree banking. Fun ride with no wait at all. Terminator Salvation: The Ride: #2, 9/10 Excellent wooden coaster. The theming was surprisingly good even though it was kind of frustrating spending 15 minutes in the pre-show rooms even when there was no queue. The ride itself was so much better than expected. It was packed with airtime, tunnels, headchoppers and had fantastic pacing until the last turn, which was the only real drawback of the ride (way too slow). This was my first GCI and now I understand why people like these so much. Airtime, laterals, this ride has got everything. It is also a perfect coaster for families, not too intense nor too boring! Gold Rusher: #1, 4/10 Unsatisfactory. The turns were super awkward and very jerky and the ride didn't do anything but meandering around. I know it's old... But it just wasn't cool. The Riddler's Revenge: #2, 8.5/10 I rode Mantis earlier this year and didn't really like it. This ride was great, though. The semi-theming was nice, the pacing was great and for some reason the ride felt extremely fast. There was basically no headbanging and I really liked the layout. It just never let up! One thing; the station was simply awful. Loud music and a weird setup with super long rails before the air gates... If you've been on the ride you know what I mean. Scream: #2, 6/10 Scream is an example of a sluggish coaster. "Let's copy Medusa and throw it down on a parking lot to boost our roller coaster count... If we hide it behind Colossus no one will ever notice we built it!" The theming was boring, the paint was fading and the ride was actually kind of rough. Allright, allright I may be a little hard on the ride... But really. I hated it, even though the coaster itself was actually decent. Batman: The Ride: #1, 8/10. Super forceful. The ride was pretty much one long greyout for me. Really a great layout; I can totally understand why this design has become such a winner. I felt pretty dizzy after my ride... Didn't feel like doing it again, but it was enjoyable. There did seem to be some head-banging. But that was just due to the insane speed. Cool! Colossus: #1, 5/10 No airtime. Not a whole lot of anything, actually. Not a painfully rough ride but definitely NOT smooth either. I wonder why the slow this ride and Goliath so much down before the first drop... It's actually pretty cool, though. Suspense! Goliath: #3, 8/10 Goliath had a whole lot to offer but lacked one thing that defines a hypercoaster for me: Airtime. The first drop was great (best part of the ride) and the 3rd hill had some mild floater air but after that there was nothing but crazy positives. Also, the trains weren't super comfortable. Not a lot of leg room (even for a short guy like me!) Even still, it is a great ride with a nice layout. The helix of death was so much fun, too! Besides, it has the coolest entrance ever. X2: #2, 9/10 X2 is the future of roller coasters. Such an original ride that I really, really want to give it a 10/10. The layout is fantastic and the first drop is one of the best in the world in my opinion. The only thing that keeps me from giving this ride the highest possible score is the roughness... Both of my rides were in the first car inner seat. But even here, there was a consistent rattle the approached something quite painful in the bottom of the second raven turn. I'm going to be honest: I didn't even dare to ride this in the back row. But in spite of the roughness I was totally blown away on both of my rides. This coaster is really unlike anything else I have ever been one. I hope to see more of these. Please don't let this design die! Viper: #2, 8/10 This ride really surprised me by being so good. I rode it twice in the second to last row, and yes, it seems to be the "magic" seat. It was a very smooth and forceful ride. The first drop was great. It was too bad that they decided to trim-rape the last part of the ride totally. Revolution: #1, 6/10 The only good part of this ride was the loop and the long, shallow drop before it. The rest was bumpy and really slow. The shortcut through the Flashpass queue was great, though! Superman and Deja Vu don't count! Roller coasters, all-over score. (Sum of ratings/(number of ratings+1))+(number of open coasters in park/10) (86.5/13)+(14/10)= 8.05/10 (Just my own little nerdy system ) So yeah... All in all a nice day with a lot of rides.